This story was updated at 3:50 p.m. EST.
The space shuttle Atlantis cast off from the International
Space Station early Wednesday after almost a week linked to deliver vital spare
parts.
The shuttle detached from the orbiting laboratory at 4:53
a.m. EST (0953 GMT), and flew in a circle around the station so that astronauts
on the orbiter could snap detailed photographs to check on the state of the
outpost.
"It's a pretty exciting thing to do, be able to see the
station you were living in again now on the
farewell," STS-129 commander Charlie Hobaugh said in a preflight
interview. "Just having it gives us a new snapshot in time of the
condition of the vehicle at that point."
Atlantis' pilot Barry "Butch" Wilmore, a
first-time spaceflyer, helmed the ship for the station fly-around.
"It's a good day for the pilot the way we plan 'em
out," Wilmore said in a NASA interview. "We'll do a burn that will
put us initially on a trajectory to leave station and start on our way home. So
as I will do that burn going home, going home to my wife, Deanna, and our two
girls, that'll be a neat time."
Atlantis is slated to land Friday at 9:44 a.m. EST (1444
GMT) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Heat shield scan
The astronauts spent Wednesday conducting a final scan of
their shuttle's sensitive heat shield to make sure it is intact and safe for
re-entry. They used a sensor-tipped boom attached to their shuttle's robotic
arm to pore over the tiles, and preliminary data indicates that there are no
major issues to worry about.
NASA is looking into a problem that arose today with the
shuttle Atlantis' waste water tank, which is full of about 165 pounds of urine
produced over Atlantis' week-long stay at the space station. When the crew
tried to empty the tank this morning, the nozzle was blocked and only emptied partway.
Ground crews are looking into the issue, but lead shuttle
flight director Mike Sarafin said it was "not a showstopper."
"We know that we can make it through landing day
without having any problems," he said. "It's only if we extend past
the planned landing day on Friday that we may have to take additional measures."
Eager for home
Onboard the shuttle with Hobaugh
and Wilmore are mission specialists Leland Melvin, Randy Bresnik, Mike
Foreman, Robert "Bobby" Satcher, Jr, and Nicole Stott. Stott only
recently joined the Atlantis crew. She has spent the last three months on the
International Space Station as an Expedition 21 flight engineer.
After an extended time in space, Stott said she is eager to
be back on the ground.
"I think the two main things are seeing my young son
and my husband," she said Tuesday before boarding Atlantis. "I think
just getting back out in the sunshine and just being back with family and
friends is the main thing."
Bresnik is also excited to return to Earth so that he can
meet his new daughter, baby
Abigail, who was born to Bresnik's wife while the astronaut was in space.
The STS-129 crew is leaving a re-stocked
space station. Atlantis delivered about 15 tons of spare supplies to last
the station beyond the point when shuttles retire and only Russian Soyuz
spacecraft and unmanned cargo ships service the outpost.
The spaceflyers are leaving five people on the space
station, now commanded by NASA astronaut Jeff Williams, who took the helm
Tuesday during a change-of-command ceremony.
SPACE.com is providing complete coverage of Atlantis'
STS-129 mission to the International Space Station with Staff Writer Clara
Moskowitz and Managing Editor Tariq Malik based in New York. Click here for shuttle mission
updates and a link to NASA TV.
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